HMS Singray G2: New industrial AR glasses set to inherit Hololens 2

The Japanese company HMS presented its new Singray G2 AR glasses at the Augmented Enterprise Summit in Dallas. The device is aimed exclusively at business customers and is intended for use in areas such as manufacturing, construction, logistics, 3D design, and healthcare.

The glasses are designed for hands-free working: digital instructions and assembly plans are displayed directly in the field of vision so as not to interrupt work processes. Remote colleagues can provide real-time support via live video transmission.

Birdbath AR and Snapdragon processor

The Singray G2 utilizes so-called “birdbath optics”: a concave mirror magnifies a 1080p micro OLED display from Sony to a diagonal field of view of 48.5 degrees. This technology is significantly cheaper than waveguides, such as those used in HoloLens 2, Magic Leap, or the Snap Specs planned for next year. The disadvantage: the real environment must be darkened more so that the digital elements appear clearly visible and less translucent. Birdbath optics are mainly used in entertainment devices such as display glasses from Xreal or Viture. These are usually powered by an external playback device such as a smartphone or games console. The Singray G2, on the other hand, provides its computing power.

The device uses Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 from 2022, on which the XR2 Gen 2 used in current XR headsets such as Quest 3 or Pico 4 Ultra is based. This is supplemented by Intel's still energy-efficient vision processor Movidius Myriad X from 2017, which means that HMS is relying on a similar architectural principle to Microsoft's HoloLens 2, which also outsourced tracking tasks to a separate chip. The selection of this chip combination, which at first glance appears to be outdated, is likely to have something to do with energy efficiency. A decent battery life is essential for standalone headsets in the industrial sector. By outsourcing the tracking and using the less power-hungry Birdbath optics, the G2 could achieve a similar performance to devices with more up-to-date chips. The Singray G2 also dispenses with energy-intensive eye tracking.

Market launch planned for 2026

The sensor technology includes a 13-megapixel RGB camera, a depth sensor, a stereo fisheye system for visual localization, and a 9-axis motion sensor. The glasses offer tracking with six or three degrees of freedom, and the housing is IP65-certified and therefore protected against dust and water jets.

The 4,800 mAh battery can be replaced during operation, as an integrated buffer battery allows a three-minute change without switching off. HMS uses a customized version of Android as its operating system and supports OpenXR and Unity's AR Foundation. Software from frontline.io is pre-installed, which according to the provider offers a complete system for industrial AR applications, but an app marketplace is also planned. HMS has not yet announced a price, but pre-orders should still be possible in 2025 before the glasses officially go on sale in 2026.

(joe)